** January to December 2005
Archive **
Saturday
31st December 2005
30/12/05 – David Redhead reported the following interesting
discovery:
“Most years a pre-Christmas retrieval visit is required to our loft. I usually
take the opportunity to have a search for hibernating butterflies as on my
first visit, some twenty years ago, I discovered about a dozen Peacocks and
half a dozen Small Tortoiseshells. Over the two decades the numbers have
gradually dwindled and this year, on Friday 23rd
December, the lowest count to date was achieved with just one Peacock
and one Small Tortoiseshell. However, I did manage to add a new moth
species - a hibernating Herald moth. By precariously balancing a torch I was
able to produce enough illumination to allow my camera to focus and obtain a photograph.”
Wednesday
28th December 2005
Richard Soulsby sent the following email on 28th
December: “Nice
to see all the reports of December Peacocks and Red Admirals. I've not seen any
myself, but a friend in Benson, Dr Anne Millar, has told me that she found a Brimstone
on 22nd December on Swyncombe
Downs near here. It was lying in the frosted grass, dormant but alive.
She took it home, and has put it into ivy in her garden, in the hope that it
will survive the winter better there.”
Saturday
24th December 2005
Welcome to the website, new contributors Ann Pitwell & John
Laker who sent in this report today from Marlow:
“We were
privileged to see a Red Admiral today, 24th December,
in the back garden at 10.45, in pristine condition.”
Friday
23rd December 2005
[Apologies for the late posting of the following sightings
due to computer problems.]
On 19/12/05 Mick & Wendy Campbell were
surprised to see a Peacock basking in the sunshine in a warm corner of
their garden.
On 19/12/05 Tom Dunbar reports that a
work colleague pointed out a pristine Red Admiral which had settled on a
flowering mahonia in the school grounds at 12.30 today, 19th December.
On 18/12/05 Tony Croft sent the following email: “I was fairly astonished to see a Peacock
in the garden on Friday 16th December. It was beautifully sunny and
relatively mild (about 10C as I recall).”
On 15/12/05, a warm
December afternoon, Wendy & Mick Campbell saw a Red Admiral fly down
from the roof of their house and off across the garden. After about an hour it
was seen heading back towards the house where it seemed to disappear up into
the eaves, presumably to roost in the roof space.
Tuesday
15th November 2005
15/11/05 Dave Maunder sent in this news from Aylesbury today: “My only recent
butterfly sighting is a very late Peacock in my back garden on Sunday 13th
November,
tempted out by some bright afternoon sunshine! The next few days don't seem at
all good for moths or butterflies, with very low temperatures forecast.”
Monday
14th November 2005
On Monday 14th November Tom Dunbar saw a Red Admiral in
Hazlemere near High Wycombe. "The bright sunshine was obviously enough to persuade this
individual to leave its shelter from the heavy overnight frost. It sought
nectar from a mahonia bush in the school grounds before charging off over the
rooftops. This stands as my latest ever sighting of any butterfly
species."
Paul Bowyer was at the Wyevale Garden Centre in Beaconsfield on Saturday 12th November and reports seeing a Red Admiral.
Tony Croft says Saturday's sunshine brought two Red Admirals and a Painted
Lady to his garden although the temperature was a cool 10C. On Sunday 13th November he saw two Red
Admirals at Whitecross Green.
Friday
11th November 2005
Today (11th) Dave Wilton
continued his Brown Hairstreak egg survey of the Rushbeds/Lapland Farm area:
“In 90 minutes I managed to complete about three-quarters of the west-facing
Lapland meadow hedge which abuts the railway before the wind and rain got too
much for me. It produced a paltry nine Brown Hairstreak eggs, although I
did also find two Bl@ck
Hairstreak eggs, two Blue-bordered Carpet eggs and a half-grown Oak Eggar
caterpillar.”
On Wednesday 9th November Jan Haseler
saw a Red Admiral on a south-facing wall at the Harris Garden, University of Reading. Jan also
reports that her last Speckled Wood sighting was Thursday 27th
October at Shinfield Park.
Caroline Steel reports that on November 5th her mother,
Joan Peachey, found a Red Admiral resting
on her washing line in her garden at Ashampstead,
Berks.
Monday
7th November 2005
7th November – Tony Croft reports on his Brown
Hairstreak egg hunting in the Long Crendon area: “I can't offer you another km
square yet but it's getting close. I found two more eggs this afternoon.
One is at SP687094 by a footpath in an open area behind some houses on the
outskirts of Long Crendon and the other was on a track nearby.”
On Friday 4th November David Redhead was searching for
Brown Hairstreak eggs in new grids in the Shotover area. He managed to locate a single
egg to add to this year’s count, although unfortunately it was just in SP5705, so not a new square. A
little further along his route, David had his second success of the day - a
Red Admiral - very slightly faded but otherwise perfect.
Thursday
3rd November 2005
2nd November - Dave Maunder spotted the following
butterflies in Aylesbury during the last week: Red Admiral (2), Small
Tortoiseshell (1) and, at Coombes near Adstock, a late Painted Lady
and Red Admiral on the 27th October.
Monday
31st October 2005
Many thanks to Ched George for sending in this remarkable report today, which adds a new species to this year’s UTB count: “A friend is confident that he witnessed a Pale Clouded Yellow at Ewelme on the 27th October. The black markings on the wings were checked. He’s positive it was not a helice form of Clouded Yellow.”
Sunday
30th October 2005
Tom Dunbar further explored the Bicester area on 29th October for
Brown hairstreak eggs: "excellent habitat near Launton and to the south-west of
Bicester failed to produce any eggs. I had a similar result to the north-east
of the town where good blackthorn was in short supply. However the day was
deemed a success in that I located 5 eggs in two new 1 km squares to the
east of Craven Hill MOD depot."
Friday
28th October 2005
Dave Wilton reported this exciting news for 27th October: “David Redhead, Tom Dunbar and I carried out a search for Brown Hairstreak eggs to the east of Bicester in today's glorious sunshine and succeeded in adding 10 eggs to the count and four more brand new kilometre squares to the distribution map. Unfortunately two of these squares are right on the edge of our current map which will now need to be "tweaked" a little before they can be shown! During the search a single Comma was found sunning itself on a bramble patch and we had three Brimstone sightings, although it was not clear how many different individuals were involved.”
On 27th October Derek Brown said he
and Cathy are still seeing Red Admirals in their garden in Beenham as of last Sunday - 2 weeks later
than last year: ”Everything else seems to have disappeared. Overall
for the year in the garden we got the Ringlet, which we didn't have last year,
and the totally new Grayling, but we missed out this year on Purple Hairstreak
and Painted Lady.”
26/10/05 – There were two Red Admirals in Nick Bowles’ garden today, busy on buddleia and ivy: “Seeing them with fieldfares and redwings calling as they pass overhead is a real sign of autumn.”
Monday
24th October 2005
David Redhead managed an absolutely new Brown Hairstreak square (SP5605) on Sunday afternoon, 23rd: “Inspired by Wendy & Mick’s 5
eggs on 29th September just NE of Horspath in SP5705, I headed east from
Brasenose farmhouse and took the bridleway up the SE face of Brasenose Woods.
This actually runs inside the woods and most of the blackthorn I found was
heavily shaded, aged and unsuitable. It comes out in the middle of three hay
meadows. I followed the footpath east across the bottom of the meadow - lots of
blackthorn in the hedge on my right but north facing and no eggs found. The
hedge dividing the second and third meadows is superb almost solid blackthorn,
very wide with ash & oak - in the past I have looked here, without success.
I went along the WNW face for about 50m to an ash tree with nil count, then
tried the ESE face and almost immediately found two nice white eggs. As it was
starting to rain I decided to head back home.”
Click here
to see the full Brown Hairstreak report.
23rd October – From just across the
border in Tring, Nick Bowles was pleasantly surprised that last
weekend's Red Admiral count in his garden was surpassed: 3 this morning;
2 last week. Sadly the Comma, which was around for at least 13 days, was not to
be seen.
Tony Croft walked along the road between Long Crendon and Easington in the afternoon of 21st October: “The road has quite a lot of blackthorn on both sides which has not been flailed for a couple of years. I found a single Brown Hairstreak egg at SP688099 on the eastern side of the road. If my interpretation of the latest Brown Hairstreak distribution map is correct then this is a new square.”
David & Wendy Redhead were in their garden on Thursday 20th
October and saw Red Admiral (nectaring
on ivy flowers) and Comma (sunning itself on the gate) - both were in
good condition.
On Thursday 20th Mick & Wendy Campbell went walking
in the Stanton St John area, searching for Brown Hairstreak eggs. They located 14 fresh Brown
Hairstreak eggs plus 5 hatched eggs from last year. Along the way they were
also pleased to see 3 species of butterfly still on the wing – singletons of Small
Tortoiseshell (worn), Small Copper (worn) and Red Admiral. All
three were on the edge of farm fields, in the shelter of hedges or woodland.
Dennis Dell reports: “Red Admirals have been visiting the Beijing
Buddleia in my garden every week since August 28th. The last was seen on October 19th, coinciding with the fading of the
last bloom.”
Wednesday
19th October 2005
Ched George sent this news on 19th October: “Our Bottom Wood, Radnage work party finished the morning session by witnessing 2 Speckled Wood.”
17th October - Just back from holiday, David Redhead
reports: “Last
week, in spite of 4.5 inches of rain in just over 24 hours, Wendy and I
managed 20 Red Admirals, 3 Painted Ladies, 2 Small Coppers and
a Peacock on the coastal footpath around the St David's
Peninsula - most were nectaring on Ivy flowers and all were in good
condition. A Hummingbird Hawk Moth was nectaring on Red Valerian in
Solva. Several fully grown Fox Moth larvae were found alongside the
coastal path and a Ruby Tiger larva just missed being stepped on as it
hurried across the path. On the way back several Herald moths were
discovered roosting in the entrance to the Dolaucothi gold mines.”
Then on Saturday 15th, back in UTB territory, Wendy Redhead saw 3 Red
Admirals and a Large White in the garden.
And finally, on Sunday 16th, David and Wendy were inspired by the warm sunny weather to try for a very late adult Brown Hairstreak in Bernwood Meadows/Forest but were unsuccessful. However, they were compensated by finding 43 Brown Hairstreak eggs along the way, plus one Blue-bordered Carpet Moth egg. Surprisingly, not one adult butterfly was seen in two hours.
On Monday 17th Wendy & Mick
Campbell did a circular walk through Bernwood Forest, Waterperry Wood and the
surrounding area. The warm, sunny weather brought 4 species of
butterfly out of hiding: Red Admiral (1), Brimstone (1 female), Peacock
(2) and Comma (1). Along the way they checked the blackthorn for Brown
Hairstreak eggs and located 10 altogether in five different 1km squares.
Sunday
16th October 2005
Nick Bowles sent this news today, 15th: “Despite a dedicated, though short, search I could only turn up one species today- a Small Copper at Pitstone. It had only three wings which seemed strangely apposite given the way the season is so obviously falling apart. No blues there (my target species) no whites anywhere and even the ivy that held Red Admiral in numbers two weeks back (here in Tring) were now empty.”
16/10/05 – A
further update received from Nick this morning: “After saying no sign of Red
Admiral yesterday there are currently two Red Admiral and a Comma feeding
on buddleia that I hacked back in early September and that is now in flower
again. Not only did hacking cause renewed flowering but the small size is
keeping all flowers but top two stems out of wind (sheltered by next door's
fence).”
Derek Brown says he’s still seeing a few
butterflies in his garden in Beenham: 3x Red Admiral today, 15th; and a male Brimstone last
Monday 10th.
At 4.30 pm today, Saturday 15th, Wendy & Mick
Campbell counted an astonishing 14 Red Admirals on their garden buddleia
and ivy (the ivy has just come into full flower and was covered with bees and hover
flies). Other butterflies seen earlier in the day on the buddleia were 2 Comma
and 1 Small Tortoiseshell. A White flew through the garden too
quickly to be identified. The buddleia and ivy plants are very mature and are
situated next to each other in a warm, sunny corner of the garden. The ivy is
growing up old apple and pear fruit trees and has reached about 20 feet, so it
catches the sun all day long. All the Red Admirals and one of the two Commas
were in very good condition, the second Comma was rather tatty.
16/10/05 – By 10.00 am Sunday, 4 Red Admirals and a Comma have already
turned up again this morning.
Wednesday
12th October 2005
Tony Croft undertook a very brief local search for Brown Hairstreak
eggs this afternoon, 12th ”Before the rain set in I found three Brown
Hairstreak eggs along a bridleway between Easington and Chilton where a
single egg was located last year.”
Tuesday 11th October - Butterflies seen by Dave Maunder
around Aylesbury over the last week were:- Red Admiral (6), Comma (1),
Small Tortoiseshell (1), Brimstone (1), Small White (1),
and Speckled Wood (1) - the last 4 species were seen in yesterday's
heat!”
11th October Dennis Dell sent this
news: “Today,
while on one of my Aylesbury Ring walks around Ford, I passed through a very
large young deciduous forestry commission plantation [trees not higher than 5']
(SP 788094); in years to come, this will be a very nice wood. I saw two
pristine Painted Ladies on thistle here. The Red Admirals are
still around my Beijing Buddleia.”
Monday 10th
October: With the weather so unseasonably warm Dave Wilton couldn't resist
stopping at the Rushbeds Wood tramway on his way to work this morning. “Unfortunately
there was no sign of Brown Hairstreak but I did see Comma (13) and Red
Admiral (1) on the brambles. Perhaps more interesting was a lone Peacock
fluttering rather dozily around the entrance to the wood, presumably having
been woken from its slumber by the warm sunshine.”
Sunday
9th October 2005
Dennis Dell sent this report on 7th October: “We are all still seeing the Red
Admiral, and will probably continue to do so for some time to come. My Beijing
Buddleia is no longer in its first flush, but there are still plenty of
flowers, and even during the last two dull days there have been a couple of Red
Admirals feeding for most of the day. I've just read again Ford's
'Butterflies' which has a long chapter devoted to migration; I was under the
impression that this species migrates back southwards in October, but this is
not mentioned at all in the book. In that case, those specimens which we are
seeing now will hibernate, but most will perish during the winter (according to
Ford). The only migration is into these islands from the south during the
summer. I'm not convinced, because friends in Switzerland visit particular
valleys in the mountains in October where they observe thousands of birds and
Red Admirals flying southwards together”
Wednesday
5th October 2005
Dave Wilton saw his first October butterfly
yesterday morning (4th): ”A Red Admiral whizzed by
while I was at the Waste Recycling Site off Raban's
Lane in Aylesbury. In the afternoon I went out to the area around Wendlebury, Oxon where I managed to find another
two Red Admirals (on ivy), five Commas (on bramble) and a single Small
Copper (also on bramble). I managed to add just one more Brown
Hairstreak egg to the total with a singleton found beside the railway line
at SP557-177.”
Dave Maunder reports seeing the following in Aylesbury during the
last week:- “Red Admirals (13) all on Ivy; Peacock (1) - in
warehouse at work; Comma (1), Small Whites (2, on the 2nd.). Also
at Eythrope
on Sunday
2nd. I saw Red Admirals (7), Comma (1), and a nice selection of birds of prey
which included 3 x Hobby, 1 Kestrel, 1 Buzzard and 2 Red
Kites!”
Tuesday
4th October 2005
The following was received from Tony Croft today, 4th October: “I have just returned from Whitecross Green Wood and was lucky enough to see a female Brown Hairstreak on hawthorn in an open area near the green lane. I also found 12 eggs. The only other butterflies seen were a male Brimstone, a Red Admiral and two Speckled Wood. At Rushbeds Wood on Sunday with the work party we saw 4 Comma, 3 Small Copper and several Speckled Wood.”
Sunday
2nd October 2005
Sunday 2nd October - Jim Asher sent the following
interesting news: “A poor day to see anything much, given the low temperatures and
breeziness. However I did manage one Large White at home, one Red
Admiral plus 4 Brown Hairstreak eggs at Whitecross
Green Wood this morning and one Small Copper, one female Brown Argus (see photo below) and three
Purple Hairstreak eggs near Hitchcopse pit.
Six species.”
1st October - Tom Dunbar reports seeing 4 Red Admirals in Aylesbury Churchyard today, 1st. Also
1 Red Admiral, 3 Commas and 1 Speckled Wood seen in 40
minutes at Grangelands this morning.
Then, on 2nd October: “Butterflies were very few today at Bernwood Oakley with single sightings of Comma, Red Admiral and Speckled Wood. I looked in several hotspots for Brown Hairstreak but it failed to show. I still hoped to get my first October adult Brown Hairstreak and spent 50 minutes at Whitecross Green Wood. The only butterfly on the wing seemed to be an unidentified White until my binoculars turned up a solitary female Brown Hairstreak on an ash. A quick look along Widnell Lane on my way home failed to produce any further sightings.”
Jan Haseler sent the following report on 27th
September: “I saw 4 Common Blues
at Green Park, Reading, today, 27th.
The furthest plot of a new business park was prepared with hardcore about 5 years
ago, and has been untouched ever since. It has been colonised by buddleia,
birdsfoot trefoil, mullein and lots more. In August there were 40+ Common
Blues. I wonder whether today's 4 were still the 2nd generation, or perhaps a
3rd generation?”
Monday
26th September 2005
Nick Bowles was out cycling on Saturday 24th and reports the following: “I saw Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Red Admiral, Comma and Speckled Wood in Wendover Woods. I went on to College Lake in the late afternoon and it had clouded up though 2 guys there said that a little earlier they had definitely seen a Common Blue and a probable Small Blue.
Then on Sunday 25th, I went to Finemere Wood and saw just 4 species: Small White, Red Admiral, Comma and Speckled Wood. I went home rather promptly after a wetting in the rain (that was definitely not forecast for lunchtime!!)
Finally, the direction of Red Admiral flight is
intriguing at this time of year, some are definitely going very strongly
south-south west; others are moving north, whilst most are just hanging about.
Stuart Hodges tells me he drove along a track parallel to a southbound Red
Admiral on Saturday and was able to keep exactly level at 15mph. If it kept
going at that speed whilst weather permitted, it should be going out to sea
about now headed for France.”
Tom Dunbar decided to visit chalk downland in the Pitstone area on Sunday 25th: “Either side of the heavy rain I managed to locate just 4 species - Small Copper, Common Blue, Speckled Wood and Small Blue.”
The recent Small Blue sightings are unusually late in the year, raising questions as to whether it’s a third brood. If the warm September weather continues, keep looking out for the late emergence of butterflies, such as the White Admiral (click here to read the Second Brood White Admiral alert.).
25/9 - Jim Asher reports: “Just returned from BC Council strategic meetings (Fri/Sat). There were about 30+ Red Admirals on the BC Head Office buddleias (beijing) plus one fresh Peacock (!!!) two Painted Ladies, Small Tortoiseshell and several Hummingbird Hawk Moths. Six of us from yesterday's meeting stayed over and walked in superb sunny but breezy weather near Worth Matravers this morning. We scored 12 species: Large White, Small White, Speckled Wood, several Wall Brown, Small Copper, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Small Heath, Meadow Brown, Adonis Blues and one Clouded Yellow! Plus - one Writing Spider (Argiope bruennichi) – see photo below. Most were seen in the Winspit quarry just above the sea.
On Sunday 25th several reports were received of
butterflies and Hummingbird Hawk Moths nectaring on garden plants:
Dennis Dell counted 6 Red Admirals on the Beijing Buddleia he planted
last year.
Dave Wilton’s newly planted Beijing Buddleia is being visited regularly by a Hummingbird
Hawk Moth.
David Redhead reports one Comma and one Red Admiral on ivy flowers –
but the Michaelmas Daisies & Sedums are devoid of butterflies.
Wendy & Mick Campbell’s Buddleia (variety unknown) attracted Red Admiral (2), Painted
Lady, Comma, Large White and Small White, plus a Hummingbird Hawk
Moth which has been a fairly regular visitor in the last few weeks. Nothing
on the Sedum or Michaelmas Daisies, but the Verbena is proving
moderately popular with the butterflies.
Saturday
24th September 2005
David Redhead’s Swyncombe Down transect today, 24th,
produced only 12 butterflies - 9 Meadow Brown, 2 Small Copper and a Peacock.
Sadly no Small Blues.
24th September - Tom Dunbar reports seeing 7 butterfly species today: "I visited Rushbeds Tramway in an unsuccessful attempt to locate a female Brown Hairstreak. I did manage a Small White, one Red Admiral, eight Commas, one Small Copper and two Speckled Woods. Next port of call was Chinkwell Wood for an outside chance of a second brood White Admiral - I saw one there in 2003. Only butterflies to add to my list for the day were a single male Brimstone, one Green-veined White and four Brown Hairstreak eggs - two of these were in the field on the northern edge of the wood."
Saturday 24th – Mick & Wendy Campbell had
a very productive walk in the Holton area today. They found
a good quality blackthorn hedge in a warm, sunny location and stopped to search
for eggs. Just as they found their first egg, a very worn female Brown
Hairstreak flew out across the field, settling at intervals in the grass to
bask in the sun. Two further female Brown Hairstreaks were subsequently
recorded along the hedge, one of which was seen laying an egg on the
blackthorn. Judging by the reasonably good condition of the second and third
females, they could well be on the wing into October, weather permitting! The
complete list for the day was: Brown Hairstreak (3), Speckled Wood (2),
Large White, Red Admiral, Comma (7), Peacock (sunning itself high
up on the trunk of a Birch tree) and a Common Blue.
Friday
23rd September 2005
David Redhead reported the following on 22nd September. “This afternoon Wendy & I
popped out to Swyncombe Down. Amazingly
we saw a pair of Small Blues - I reckon these are contenders for the UTB
all comers last sighting record and even more amazingly they were both quite
fresh looking (see photo of one below). Also seen three Meadow Brown,
a couple of Speckled Wood and singletons of Small Heath, Peacock,
Comma & Red Admiral.”
Tuesday
20th September 2005
Dave Wilton had two Small
Coppers in his Westcott garden on 17th September: “They
were going through a little courtship display - that's a massive total for here
as I've never had more than one before!”
17/9 - Dennis Dell sent this photo of a Small Tortoiseshell on a light pink variety of Sedum,
which he planted in his garden last year. He wonders if this is favoured over
the darker pink variety of Sedum which failed to attract any Small
Tortoiseshells.
14/09/05 – Tony Croft found 3 Brown Hairstreak eggs on the outside
edge of Whitecross Green Wood. “There’s quite a bit of good and searchable blackthorn
around that field. Had a quick look along the road between Chilton and Chearsley railway bridge yesterday
but no joy yet.”
Monday 19th
September 2005
Female Brown Hairstreaks are still on the wing as
the following recent reports show. Please continue to report sightings to David Redhead (UTB Brown Hairstreak
Champion). Besides examining
blackthorn it is also a good idea to keep an eye in particular on Ash and Oak
trees especially if you are out in the second half of the afternoon. Times of
sightings are especially useful at the moment along with weather details if
possible. Last year they were seen several times to be active in temperatures
as low as 16C and once at 15C and the sun did not have to be shining. Will they
last until the first week of October again?
17th September - Tom Dunbar dropped into the Woodham Industry site just north of the A41, en route to Laplands Farm, where a Brown Hairstreak had been seen in 2003 by Tim Watts. He says the blackthorn is very good but unfortunately no Brown Hairstreaks were seen. Laplands did produce one female Brown Hairstreak however: “it was on the second group of ashes in from the Bernwode plants gate on the railway hedgerow. It started on ash, moved to oak momentarily, before flying onto the blackthorn out of sight. I also did a partial egg-search and managed 18. I was surprised not to find any Small Coppers having had a report of 98 being seen in North Surrey on Tuesday. I managed 99 some years ago at a site near Buckingham at this time of year.”
12th September - Paul Huckle went to Whitecross Green Wood Tuesday 12th
which produced one rather tatty female Brown Hairstreak. She was flying
around the small meadow clearing just by the car park and he watched her rest
for about 2 minutes on a small oak tree.
11th September – David Redhead did
the Shabbington Wood transect. “I parked
in the small Bernwood Meadows car park so I could examine the hedgerows for
egg-laying females. None seen on the way across and no Brown Hairstreaks on
transect - in fact a near record low 7 only butterflies - 2 Red Admiral (and
one of those was on dumped apple peelings in the old Hell Coppice car park),
3 Speckled Wood, 1 Green-veined White & 1 Common Blue.
The mass of ride side Devilsbit Scabious was totally unoccupied except for the
one Red Admiral. Becky Woodell later told me she had seen about 30 Commas
on the Scabious two days earlier on the Oakley Wood
transect - had they all hibernated in the meantime! Back across the
meadows again no Brown Hairstreaks. I then went up into the meadows north of
the car park looking in ash & oak trees as well as at hedgerows. In the ash
tree at the narrowest point a Brown Hairstreak settled and then opened
its wings to show it was a female. I then moved down to the Menmarsh Road ash trees, which this year had
proved totally frustrating in spite of several visits (2004 had 4 sightings
here but 2003 none). I walked from the western end to the start of the footpath
back to Bernwood Meadows - just 3 Speckled Woods. Walking back to my car
a movement in the ash tree just before the large oak on the opposite side of
the road caught my eye - a Brown Hairstreak female just opening her
wings.”
Tuesday
13th September 2005
Dave Wilton recorded 10 butterfly species on 12th
September – his report follows: “Proving that they're still out
there to confuse us while looking for the Brown, I disturbed this rather
battered Purple Hairstreak from the ground in Finemere Meadows this afternoon. It flew into a small oak and
perched there rather obligingly for the camera (see photo below). Few
other butterflies were active in the meadows, the only other species noted
being Comma (1), Speckled Wood (3), Meadow Brown (1), Small
Heath (2) and a lone Silver-Y moth. The bramble patches within
Finemere Wood produced Comma (6) and Speckled Wood (28), both species
undergoing their usual autumn increase in numbers, but the other species seen
were all single specimens: Small White, Green-veined White, Small Copper,
Common Blue and Red Admiral.”
On 6th September David Redhead had the following in his garden in Oxon: “Just now (11:15) in the garden 3 Red Admiral & 5 Comma - distribution: nectaring on buddleia = 2 Red Admiral & 1 Comma; nectaring on ivy flowers = 1 Red Admiral & 3 Comma; pretending to be a Brown Hairstreak in an ash tree = 1 Comma. Also about a Speckled Wood and a couple of unidentified whites.”
Thursday
8th September 2005
4th September - Ros and Mike Flemming
sent this interesting report: “We can confirm sightings of Brown
Hairstreak at Asham Meads on the
Bank Holiday Monday (29th August) and on Saturday, 3rd September. On 29th August, a walk around the Meads produced
nil result until returning to the car park at 2:45pm, when one individual was
seen high in the trees at the entrance from the lane. A second flew in from the
east just before we left. Later, on the same afternoon, we had good views of
very bright Comma and Red Admiral in Bernwood
(near the BBOWT Meadow).
On 3rd
September, on a
late afternoon visit and walk along the lane southwards from Asham Meads, we saw a very active female Brown
Hairstreak in the hedgerow on the east side of the lane. After we had
watched for about half an hour (at about 5pm), she settled on what appeared to
be a carefully selected perch for the night. She walked around the leaf for a
considerable time, sampling the surface with her proboscis and opening and
closing her wings repeatedly before settling down in the selected position. It
was noticeable that there were several yellow leaves surrounding the spot,
which provided excellent camouflage. On returning from a walk across Otmoor at about 6:30 pm, she was still in the
same position. Other butterflies seen in the area included Speckled Wood (several),
Small White (few), Common Blue (several), Brown Argus (2)
roosting on grass, Small Tortoiseshell (1, pristine). There were many
dragonflies, including Migrant Hawker, and moths, including Magpie.”
Dave Wilton went out on two site visits, 3rd
& 4th September and found the following:
4th September – “The Painted
Lady (see photo below) was one of two seen feeding from devil's-bit
scabious in the disused railway cutting west of Westcott
Airfield this afternoon.
Other species present were Brimstone (1), Large
White (1), Green-veined White (7), Brown Argus (5), Common
Blue (66), Small Tortoiseshell (1), Speckled Wood (7), Meadow
Brown (3), Gatekeeper (1), Small Heath (23) and moths Green
Carpet (1), Lesser Treble-bar (3).”
“I had
another look at BBOWT's River Ray reserves south of Marsh Gibbon in the
afternoon of 3rd September, mainly with Brown Hairstreak in mind. “All hedgerows of all fields were checked, along
with each ash that I came across, but I saw no adult Brown Hairstreak activity
there at all. I did make a half-hearted attempt at looking for eggs every now
and again and eventually managed to find my first of the season, proving that
the adults are out there somewhere! Most of the butterflies that I saw were
confined to patches of Water Mint in ditches and along the banks of the River
Ray. They comprised Green-veined White (4), Small Copper (2), Common
Blue (14), Red Admiral (1), Small Tortoiseshell (4), Comma
(1), Speckled Wood (1) & Small Heath (20).”
Wednesday
7th September 2005
David Redhead sent in the following four updates:
Sunday 4th September. ”Wendy & I paid a late afternoon visit to Watlington Hill. We managed only 1 Silver-spotted
Skipper. Also 18 Meadow Brown, 17 Common Blue, 17 Small
Heath, 1 Small Tortoiseshell & 1 Speckled Wood. But the
highlight was a Clouded Yellow - only my second of the year and Wendy's
first.”
Report on the joint UTB/BBOWT meeting at Whitecross Green Wood on
Saturday, 3rd September - “Summing it up in one word – phenomenal! A total of 12
Brown Hairstreak seen - including, yes we did it again, a mating pair!
This time they were in an oak tree (actually an outlier of a combined ash/oak
complex). Again there was a third in attendance but this time just sitting
close by and not attempting to interfere. Jim Asher managed an amazing photo (see
below) - not as high up as last time but further back in the tree. As you
can see the male is extremely faded and hardly recognisable as a Brown
Hairstreak (not a trick of the camera as this was the way it looked through
binoculars). Another much brighter male was seen perched in an oak comprising
part of another ash/oak complex. The other eight were all low level females -
three being in the car park when the remnants of the party returned to their
cars. One of these was actually viewed egg-laying. Another eleven eggs were
found - 2 at the first intersection, 2 on the main hedge in the car park and 7
on the north facing hedge in the car park. These last 7 were all found by Una
Fenton - interestingly Tony Croft and I were unable to find any along this
hedge when we carried out our intensive search last March. Other species seen: Purple
Hairstreak, Speckled Wood (both up in the tree canopy and causing
confusion), Comma (four nectaring on a patch of Devilsbit Scabious), Large
White, Small White, Green-veined White, Red Admiral, Brimstone & Small
Heath (an unusual record for this site).”
Friday 2nd September - “Today looking for the Brown Hairstreak gave me some
interesting observations. In perfect conditions I started at the ash trees east
of the Menmarsh Guide Post. The one just
past the large oak on the opposite side of the road had four Speckled Woods moving
about in its canopy. Their main interest seemed to be the bare branches where
they seemed to be finding something to feed on. At the start of the footpath
north into Bernwood Forest there is a
small ash tree. This was especially active with one Red Admiral, 2 Commas
and 2 Speckled Woods in its canopy. The Speckled Woods, along with one
of the Commas, were behaving exactly like the previous ones whilst the other Comma
and the Red Admiral sat majestically on leaves sunning themselves. I did
eventually find my Brown Hairstreak flying and perching high in an
ash/oak combination alongside the field to the east of Bernwood Meadows. Also seen were Holly Blue &
Purple Hairstreak.”
Monday 29th August –”I managed to get permission from the Beechwood
Estate for a small group to survey Pyrton &
Shirburn Hills for the Silver-spotted Skipper. I am glad to
say our quest was successful with its continuing presence being confirmed as we
counted some 15 individuals at each site. Our Silver-spotted Champion view was
that we had a small to medium sized colony at both sites. At Pyrton Hill we also saw Meadow Brown, Common
Blue, Brown Argus, Small Copper, Small Heath, Large White, Small White,
Brimstone, Red Admiral & Comma. The species diversity,
reflecting the lower diversity of the vegetation, was less at Shirburn Hill with only Meadow Brown, Common
Blue, Brown Argus, Small Heath & Red Admiral being seen.
Pyrton Hill is one of our premier butterfly sites (historical
records indicate it is home to another 5 key species) but it is sadly
under-recorded. We are currently negotiating with the Beechwood Estate to
regularly monitor this site in the future. Anybody wishing to assist please contact
David Redhead at
red.admiral@ntlworld.com.”
Monday
5th September 2005
On 2nd September Dave Wilton spent another couple of hours at Lapland
Farm: “Having parked at the junction
of Kingswood Lane and the road to Ludgershall, I was greeted by a single male
in the top of the ash right at the entrance to the bridleway that leads down to
Bernwode Plants. The section of bridleway between the road and the railway
produced Green-veined White (1), Common Blue (1), Painted Lady
(1), Small Tortoiseshell (1), Meadow Brown (4), Gatekeeper
(2), Small Heath (1) and Silver-Y moth (1), all of these
being on devil's-bit scabious. The ash trees by the railway bridge and the
entrance to Bernwode Plants produced only a pair of Speckled Woods and a
solitary rather battered Purple Hairstreak. However, the first of the
Lapland meadows produced another Brown Hairstreak, this time a female in
egg-laying mode. I didn't see any further Brown Hairstreaks, despite scouring
all of the hedgerows of both meadows as well as the drover's lane to the north.
The only butterflies seen were Green-veined White (1), Common Blue (2), Red
Admiral (1), Speckled Wood (5), Meadow Brown (19) and Small Heath (6).
Following yesterday's report I even had a look down the north-south ride in the
wood but all I found there was a single Speckled Wood.”
Phil Coles went to Rushbeds Wood on September 1st mid-pm
and recorded a Brown
Hairstreak in the NW to SE ride midway between that ride’s intersection
with the W to E ride and the small gate from the wood into Lapland Farm, so
within the wood. It was slightly worn and prospecting a straggly Blackthorn
bush and good views were obtained while it sunned itself on a Hazel leaf.
[“I think
this is a first - whilst Brown Hairstreaks have frequently been seen on the
wood edge and in the meadows to the north (Lapland Farm) and the south (The
Tramway) as far as I know it has never been seen inside the wood.” David
Redhead, UTB Brown Hairstreak Champion]
On 01/09/05 Janet Frost sent in this sighting: “I would like to report a sighting of a female Brown Hairstreak on 23rd August at about 12.30 at Asham Meads. It was at ground level and then on bramble in the hedge, in the top field on the opposite side to the car park. It was about 10 yards to the right of where the telegraph wires cross the boundary of the field. This was the first time I had seen a brown hairstreak so close and it was a very definite sighting! I've been su